Chapter 14

Tootles and I walked through the city, taking in the sights. Tootles was in complete awe at everything around us. I ended up taking him to a park. It was large and filled with all sorts of things that were wonderful for Tootles to explore. During our walk through the park, I bought our lunch from a street cart. I settled down to eat as Tootles stuffed his face and ran off to go explore around the part of the park we were in.

"Miss Matthews?" I heard behind me and I turned, few people in this strange world knew whom I was and my heart sank slightly as I thought I recognized the voice. "Crimmson, I thought that was you."

Of course, the person behind me just had to be Michael Kelly. He looked the same since I had last seen him, of course that day I hadn't been very happy for him since he was sticking up for my worst enemy at the time. However, his sandy hair was still the same, if not a little messy and his grey eyes had lost a bit of their sparkle, but as our eyes met, he smiled, causing his eyes to crinkle slightly.

"Hello Michael," I said in a slightly business like manner. I couldn't help smile at his charming grin that he had given me the first time we had met.

"Crimmson, I-I" he seemed a little unsure of how he wanted to say what he was trying to say. I motioned for him to continue. He straightened his jacket and took a breath before continuing. "I wanted to apologize, for my behavior when we went to the theatre. I hadn't meant to say anything that would upset you." I nodded silently at what he said, unsure how to respond. "I-I was worried that you would never come back and I truly had a wonderful time with you, until… well until we had our little disagreement."

I smiled slightly; a disagreement to him had been more like something that would cause a war for me. "I had a nice time with you too," I said slowly, "I just had to go home to take care of a few things." Tootles looked back at me at that moment and waved from where he was in a tree. I smiled and waved back as he flipped down, his small body agile from all his years in Neverland.

"Is that one of the things you had to take care of?" Michael asked, sitting down next to me on the bench. I shook my head, my hair swinging in its horsetail.

"No, that is a friend of mine, his name is Tootles." I said, "He wanted to come see this part of the world, so I brought him with me." Michael looked at me before flashing a quick grin.

"Tootles you say?" he smiled again, "I thought you didn't like Peter Pan."

"I don't like Peter Pan, but I never said anything about the boys. Most of them a quite cocky like Pan, but Tootles," I paused for a moment thinking of the best way to put this. "He isn't like the rest, he's sweet and humbler and very kind."

Michael laughed his voice deep in his chest. "You sure are interested in the whole story of Neverland." He said with a smile and I stiffened slightly before I stood.

"We should probably be going. It was nice to see you again Michael." I said brushing myself off and turning to walk away. I had only gotten about three steps when Michael caught hold of my arm. I pulled it away easily, much to his surprise and he didn't grab me again.

"Crimmson, please, I would like to see you again," he said, "there's something interesting about you and I want to know what it is." I tensed slightly. So there was the truth of it, he didn't think of me as a friend, he thought of me as some science project or problem that he wanted to solve. "I've upset you again, haven't I?" he said as he saw my back straighten and the proud tilt of my chin. "Please, there's just something about you; I want to get to know you and spend more time with you." He said, "How about you come out with me for dinner tonight?"

I looked at him, "What about Tootles?" I asked and he smiled.

"Of course he can come too, I know a nice little dinner that we could go to not too far from your place. That is, if you're staying at the same apartment." I nodded, "Well then how about I come pick you up about 6 then?"

I paused for a moment, thinking over everything that could come of us going out again. Finally I nodded, and Michael smiled.

"Great, I'll see you at six, and don't worry there's no need to dress up, it's just a little family owned restaurant." He said as he straightened his jacket a little. I nodded and smiled slightly before looking over at Tootles and giving a sharp whistle. He dropped down from the tree, landing on all fours and ran over to me.

"Are we going now, Flynn?" he asked and I nodded.

"Why don't you go grab your coat, we don't want to forget that." I chided him slightly. He smiled and ran off to go get it. Michael looked at me.

"Flynn?" he asked, his eyebrows rose slightly in a questioning way.

"That is the only name he knows me by," I said, "If it wouldn't be too much trouble…"

Michael smiled, "To call you Flynn?" he finished for me, "I like it; it fits you." He smiled, "I'll see you and your friend tonight." He nodded to me and smiled again before he turned and left. Tootles came back a bit later and we started back home.

Tootles and I relaxed that afternoon. He ended up taking a nap since we had been up so late the night before. This gave me some silent time to think and I ended up getting up and going to the library for a little bit. I had learned the last time that I could take books out for free and there were all sorts of things in there. I ended up finding quite a few different books that I was able to check out and headed back to the apartment. We had a nice window that I pulled a chair up to and started to read.

It was nearing 4 o'clock when Tootles woke up. He took a shower, after much persuasion, before changing into a clean pair of pants and shirt that I had laid out for him and ironed. That was a skill I was very happy to master with the new irons that were used here, although pirates don't really iron much, so it didn't matter to me.

I took a shower when Tootles was done and slipped on a pair of brown pants and a blue sweater. I put some make-up on and tamed my hair back into a clip. I smiled at myself in the mirror and fixed my necklace when I heard a knock at the door. I opened it and found Michael standing there.

"Good evening," I said as I stepped back from the door to let him in. "I just need to get my shoes and find where Tootles went. Make yourself at home." I said as I slipped out of the room. I came back after a few minutes, Tootles following me and he walked right up to Michael.

"Hi!" he said with a smile that was purely Tootles, "I'm Tootles." He introduced himself. Michael smiled and stuck his hand out to shake Tootles hand, which took him a minute to figure out what he was doing.

"Nice to meet you Tootles, I'm Michael." Tootles and Michael let go of each other's hands and Tootles looked at him excitedly. "I knew a Michael, he and his brother and sister came to live with us for a while, but then they went back home." He said a hint of sadness in his voice. I grabbed my purse and put my hand on his shoulder with a smile.

"Come on, why don't we go get something to eat now," I said, knowing that would instantly cheer Tootles up. "I'm famished." Tootles nodded and Michael smiled.

"Off we go then," he said with a grin, opening the door for me as we left, Tootles walking between us as we headed to the dinner.